Someone went on holiday. Nothing particularly unusual about that. Except that this person had to approve an invoice. And without that approval, the dark accountant at the agency did not even know he had to make an important payment. Without the payment, the SPV would not have enough cash to meet its obligations. Yes… pay your debt is really important in these cases. So, a billion dollar project was suddenly exposed to an insolvency risk because one person went on holiday. Fortunately, we had...
1 day ago • 2 min read
After financial close, everyone wants to get moving. Mobilisation plans. Design programmes. Construction schedules. Reporting templates. Hundreds of meetings. And a few parties. But there is one document I would want agreed before almost anything else. The Crisis Management Plan. And I mean agreed. Not another document that’s written for the sake of it and forgotten in a drawer for the duration of the project and that only sees the light in the annual quality audit… No. But something like a...
2 days ago • 2 min read
This anecdote is so good that I couldn’t resist. Apparently, a Brazilian steakhouse once took the US Government to court. It wanted to bring Brazilian chefs into the country because they knew how to prepare meat in a very particular way. They had not learned it at university. They had learned it growing up. At home. From their families. Inside their communities. Just as Spanish people learn how to appreciate the good jamón ibérico… Well… US immigration said that was culture. Not “specialised...
3 days ago • 2 min read
UK’s largest infrastructure project. In June 2018, High Speed 2 or HS2’s main civil contractors issued a warning. Their early estimates were showing significant cost increases. That was not a rumour. Not an anonymous complaint. Not some junior engineer being negative. It came from the contractors building the bloody thing. The project continued. Reviews followed. Committees met. Reports were written. PowerPoints were probably magnificent. As usually they are…specially when consultants are...
4 days ago • 1 min read
Unfortunately for taxpayers, many decision-makers and politicians do not understand value for money. Not a clue. And it costs taxpayers billions. Let me tell you something. A few weeks ago, I went to Auckland Zoo. As we do every time, we stopped at the shop on the way out. This time, my son became obsessed with a crappy little meerkat figurine. About 5cm tall. Pure plastic. I did not even look at the price. I was delighted. How cheap! I walked to the counter and paid. I was slightly surprised...
5 days ago • 2 min read
I can see yesterday’s email hurt. Well, yes. I’ll say it again. You will never do well in life with a PowerPoint. Not long ago, I was involved in a process where the abuse of PowerPoint should have been investigated by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Beautiful. Gorgeous. Sublime charts. Flourishes everywhere. Not a single letter was out of perfect alignment with the rest of its little letter friends. Like one of those choirs that goes on The X Factor, or any of the other crap they show on...
6 days ago • 1 min read
When I was a CEO, I loved it. I would prepare a presentation. Just enough to keep the Board informed, but not too much. You wanted to avoid uncomfortable questions. Then, during the meeting, depending on how things were going, I would go deeper… or not. Always keeping one eye on the clock. Meeting over. Board satisfied. Great lunch. Then back to work to do something productive. I loved the routine. And, above all, I loved knowing that I was essential. Because that PowerPoint was always...
7 days ago • 2 min read
Look. Saying “Now is not the right time” can be perfectly reasonable. Sometimes… Although not many times. When I hear it from clients, I wonder… What exactly are you waiting for? A dispute? A claim? To have given away rights costing millions “by accident”? I don’t know… Not my personal money, so no comment. But… Of course… At one moment they come asking for help. I know that they’ll come. With some contracts, with some projects, I even have a calendar bid on when the bomb will explode…...
8 days ago • 1 min read
Look. The phrase “It’s only a letter” can be the most dangerous in PPP language. Sometimes, it genuinely is only a letter. An update. A clarification. Something routine. But sometimes, that letter gives away a position worth millions. Or… It accepts a risk nobody intended to accept. Or… It creates a precedent that will be quoted back to you two years later by someone charging $900 an hour. Or it says something perfectly reasonable… In precisely the wrong way. The problem is that you normally...
9 days ago • 1 min read